May 4 / April 21

The Hieromartyr Januarius and others with Him (305)

This saint was the Bishop of Benevento in Italy. At the time of the persecution under Maximian, Januarius was brought before the court and tortured in various ways, which he blamelessly and patiently endured. When they cast him into the fire, the fire was cooled by an invisible dew, and the martyr stood unharmed amidst the flames, singing praises to God. Then they scraped his body with iron brushes until the bones showed white, which the martyr innocently and patiently endured. His deacon, Festus, and his reader, Desiderius, witnessed the suffering of the martyr and wept for their spiritual father. Then they too were bound and, together with Bishop Januarius, were brought to the city of Pozzuoli [near Naples] and cast into prison. The Pozzuoli deacons Proculus and Sussos and two Christian laymen, Eutychius and Acutius, were in this same pris- on for the sake of Christ. The next day all seven of them were thrown to wild beasts, but the wild beasts did not touch them. They were all beheaded, and the Christians of the city of Naples secretly carried the body of St. Januarius to their city and buried it honorably in church. To the present day, numerous miracles have occurred at the grave of this saint. Among the many miracles one is particularly remembered: A poor widow, whose only son had died, removed the icon of St. Januarius from the church and placed it on the body of her dead son, sobbing and praying to the saint, and her son returned to life. St. Januarius suffered honorably in the year 305.

The Holy Martyr Theodore and others with him (2nd c.)

Theodore suffered for the Christian Faith in Perga of Pamphylia, during the reign of Emperor Antoninus. Theodore was young and handsome of countenance. When the governor of that province chose him, along with other young men, to be sent to the imperial court for service, Theodore objected and declared that he was a Christian. Because of this, he underwent many kinds of tortures and was then thrown into the fire. But water bubbled out of the ground and quenched the fire. The governor at- tributed this to some magic on Theodore’s part, but the martyr said: “This is not the work of my power but of Christ my God. If you want to know the power of your gods, light another fire and throw in one of your soldiers. Then I hope you will see the power of your gods, and the almighty power of my God.” Indeed, the governor wanted to cast one of his soldiers into the fire, but they, in fear, implored him to throw in Dioscorus, the pagan priest, instead. The pagan priest then begged the governor to throw in the idol of Zeus and the other idols, for if they were gods, they would easily save themselves. Dioscorus said this because he had turned to Christ in his heart, having seen the miracle that took place with St. Theodore. Learn- ing of this, the governor sentenced Dioscorus to death by burning. Also delivered over to death by the governor were Theodore and two soldiers, Socrates and Dionysius, as well as Theodore’s mother, Philippa. Theodore was crucified on a cross, on which he expired on the third day. Socrates and Dionysius were run through with a spear, and Philippa was beheaded. All were crowned with wreaths of glory in the Kingdom of Christ.

• Martyr Alexandra the Empress, wife of Diocletian (303) (same as April 23).
• Martyrs Isaacius, Apollo, and Codratus, of Nicomedia (303).
• Maximus (Maximian), archbishop of Constantinople (434).
• Beuno, abbot, of Clynnog Fawr, Wales (642).
• Maelruba of Apur Crossan, Ireland (722).
• Uncovering of the relics (1999) of Theodore, abbot, of Sanaxar Monastery (1791).
• Alexis, priest, of Bortsumany, Nizhni-Novgorod (1848).
• New Hieromartyr Protopresbyter Basil Martysz of Teratyn (Chelm and Podlasie, Poland) (1945).

HYMN OF PRAISE

Saint Theodore the Martyr

“I serve one King, and I cannot serve another;
I serve the Living Christ, the Lord and God!”
Thus said Theodore to the Roman governor.
The governor looked upon him as upon a beautiful picture,
And began at first to dissuade him quietly,
But all dissuasion was to no avail.
In a fiery furnace with two companions,
Theodore filled his mouth with Psalms.
Over the terrible fire God poured a cold dew,
In the midst of the fire Theodore prayed to his Lord,
To see his mother once more before his death:
“According to Thy mercy, O God, do this for me!”
And the mother appeared before her son in the furnace;
To each other they said what had to be said.
The governor summoned the aged Philippa;
Obediently the old one responded.
“I called you,” said the governor, “to counsel your son
To openly deny the Nazarene,
And to acknowledge the gods of the Roman Empire—
If you don’t want your son to die.”
And Philippa said: “Before I gave birth to him,
I prayed to God: ‘Have mercy, Lord!’
And I received the reply that I would live
To see my son crucified for Christ.
And that is why I am now indifferent toward death;
For the death of us both am I grateful to God.”

---

To read the Reflection, Contemplation, and Homily for this day,
you can purchase your copy of the Prologue of Ohrid at our St. Sebastian Bookstore
or download our Kindle E-Book version at Amazon.com.